The 72-year-old joined the firm when he was 21 and worked in maintenance.

Leyland Motors FC manager Terry Challinor, far right, with a trophy

He joined the football team there and soon became its manager.

He says: “Kevin Kirby was goalkeeper and was the manager when I joined. Then I took over from him.

“We had amalgamated with Leyland Athletic.

“It was a good club and it had a great committee. Everyone was very supportive.

“I have great memories and one that stands out was when we had the flood lights put up and Manchester City came down.

“There must have been 10,000 fans there.

“I am proud to say I sold our goalkeeper Mick Stowell to Everton. He worked for British Telecom at the time. He also played for Wolves and Leicester, where he is now a coach.

“I trained the team as best as I could but we didn’t have the best finances.

“We were playing teams in the Old Lancashire Combination, with teams like Chorley, Fleetwood and Morecambe, who all had more funds than us. Players were paid £10 to £15 a week and we couldn’t pay that kind of money.”